Islands Should I Remain Here At Sea?

Very rarely do bands release two albums on the same day. Guns N’ Roses famously did it with Use Your Illusion I and II in 1991, though those could just as easily have been packaged as one massive double album. Bright Eyes pulled off a more successful creative partition in 2005 with the folk-rocking I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning and the electro-popping Digital Ash In A Digital Urn. And now Islands will attempt a similar feat, releasing sixth LP Taste and seventh LP Should I Remain Here At Sea? on the same day this coming May. Today they share each album’s lead single along with some comments from Islands leader Nick Thorburn, he of Unicorns and Serial fame.

First up is “Back Into It,” the first advance track from the Solaris-referencing Should I Remain Here At Sea?. The album is billed as a raw and ragged pop-rock affair as well as a spiritual sequel to 2006 debut Return To The Sea, one that uses wildlife and technology as a framework for discussing “religion, race, addiction, and murderous fantasies” as well as “heartache, numb disillusionment and emotional disorientation.” The deceptively jubilant “Back Into It” might be the most Unicorns-reminsicent track in Islands’ oeuvre. Explains Thorburn:

“Back Into It” “is a study in contradiction. It’s a bright, loose affair, with bubblegum backing vocals and major key guitar chugging, but you don’t have to dig that deep to hear the venom, acrimonious and sour. When someone rains on your parade, make rain on your parade lemonade.